20th Century History of New Castle and
Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens

CECIL C. JOHNSTON,

[p. 544] cashier of the First National Bank at Wampum, is a member of one of the old established families of this section. Mr. Johnston was born on the old home place at Hazel Dell, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, August 3, 1879, and is a son of Jordan and Nancy (Boots) Johnston.

The father of Mr. Johnston was born in Wayne Township, then in Beaver, but now in Lawrence County, and was a son John C. and Jane (Nye) Johnston. John C. Johnston was born in New York and came to Pennsylvania a young school teacher, and taught both in Crawford and Lawrence Counties. He became a man of local importance and served many years in the office of justice of the peace. In Wayne Township he married Jane Nye, who was born near Ellwood City, Lawrence County. Both he and wife lived into old age. They had four children, namely: Arilla, deceased, who was the wife of J. P. Wilson; Jordan, Emma, and Alice, who married J. P. Wilson.

Jordan Johnston was reared on the home farm, which included the present site of Hazel Dell, and much of the land on which the city of Ellwood has been built. He assisted in the clearing of this land, and as he was the only son a large part of the responsibility fell on him. He followed farming through all his active life, in the course of years inheriting the paternal acres. He married Nancy Boots, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and died in 1904, aged fifty-four years. Mr. Johnston resides at Ellwood City. His five children were: William, who died, aged thirteen years; Cecil C.; Stella, who died in 1907; Elmer, who is bookkeeper for the First National Bank of Ellwood, and Sylvia.

Cecil C. Johnston spent his boyhood days on the farm and attended the country schools and Pearsoll's Academy at West Bridgewater, Pa. He taught several terms of school prior to 1901, when he entered the Ellwood City Bank as assistant cashier, and remained there for two years, later accepting the position of assistant treasurer of the Ellwood City Trust Company, with which concern he continued until 1906. He then resigned his former office in order to become cashier of the First National Bank of Wampum, of which he has been a director since July, 1907. As a financier Mr. Johnston is well known all through Lawrence County, and his name would add strength to any corporation. On August 12, 1901, Mr. Johnston was married to Lillian Grace Proper, who is a daughter of William and Mary Proper, and they have one child, Henry Cecil, who was born January 1, 1904.

Mr. Johnston is a stockholder in the First National Bank at Ellwood City, and owns stock in the Standard Engineering Works at the same place, and he owns property in Ellwood City, both on Fountain Avenue and on Fifth Street, where his handsome residence stands.

Fraternally, Mr. Johnston is connected with the Masons and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. Politically he is a Republican and served one term of three years as city auditor of Ellwood. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.


20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908

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Updated: 5 Nov 2001